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Emotions are high today as people mourn the death of Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, who died at the young age of 55 from a fatal tumor in his liver.

Gamers and fans everywhere showed their respect to Iwata via social media outlets by thanking him for childhood memories and for uniting families. Various internet sites even flew flags half-staff on Super Mario games.

Nobuyuki Hayashi, a consultant and technology expert, says of Iwata,

“He didn’t just create technology. He created a whole culture. It wasn’t just a consumer product that he had delivered. He brought to people something that’s eternal, what people remember from when they were kids. He was special.”

Iwata helped Nintendo to develop into a global company with the Wii home console and DS handheld. However, Nintendo has recently faced tough times due to competition with smartphone apps. Iwata planned to guide Nintendo through another stage of its global development by creating games for smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, Iwata will not see this put into action.

Iwata was known and praised for being more approachable than other Japanese executives. He was a gamer himself and often interacted with other gamers through the internet.

As of right now, there has been no announcement of a successor for Iwata. However, it is known that Iwata will be greatly missed and will be remembered as a legend in the video game industry.